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| Future Research Interests |
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How high do mosquitoes fly? That's something the Collier Mosquito Control District would like to know. In the future, the CMCD hopes to study the altitude mosquitoes fly during migration. The majority of the mosquito population in Collier County migrates in from the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands region. These are salt marsh mosquitoes and they can migrate over 40 miles, with the prevailing easterly breezes, in order to find a blood meal. If the CMCD knew how high these migrating mosquitoes were flying, then perhaps the District could provide even better mosquito control than what is currently available.
In order to determine the altitude of these migration flights, the CMCD needs to catch mosquitoes high in the sky. Hopefully, this can be accomplished using a tower (radio, cellular, or otherwise). The District would obtain permission to put several mosquito traps on a tower at least 600 ft tall. The CMCD could use this data to determine whether control operations are being flown at the right altitude. Presently, fixed wing aircraft fly at 300 ft for aerial adulticide applications. However, if the data from the study showed, for example, that mosquitoes are flying at 400 ft, then the CMCD would need to fly above that altitude in order to provide proper control. |
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Projects
